Our Blog

Weatherstripping Novice? Get to Know the BasicsAn excellent and low-cost method to cut down on heating and cooling losses from your home is to apply weatherstripping to windows and doors. It's one of the easiest ways to improve the overall energy efficiency of your home.
Is Weatherstripping Necessary?
Over time, all homes experience wear and tear, and high use areas and components like doors and windows are particularly susceptible to damage. If you’re feeling drafts in the home even when all the doors and windows are shut, you’ve got air leaks where (depending upon the season) hot air is seeping away or entering your home. Weatherstripping products will close off these leaks and save on your energy bills.
Detecting Leaks
Some air leaks are easy to detect, such as around the sides of doors. Other areas may not be so easy to detect. You can carry out a visual check around the home, looking for outlets, plumbing or electrical connections, windows, ductwork and so on that connect from outdoors to indoors. You might also carry out a "smoke test" to see whether air is seeping in or out of the home (where you walk the inside perimeter of the house with an incense stick and watch for places where the smoke wavers). A professional energy audit or evaluation will do a thorough job of identifying all air leaks in your home.
Fixing Air Leaks
A variety of weather-stripping products are available to fit nearly any air sealing situation where you have movable joints, such as in doors and window sashes. The packaging will tell you what situation the weatherstripping product is designed to correct and how to apply it. In most cases, it's just a matter of pealing away the paper backing on the adhesive side of the weatherstripping product, and then applying it carefully and firmly to the area that needs to be sealed. If you’re good at handyman tasks, you can get the products from a hardware store and do the work yourself.
If you have a lack of time, ask a professional to tackle these preventative maintenance tasks as part of your yearly home and HVAC maintenance schedule.
Need More Information or Assistance?
At Valley Heating, Cooling, Electrical we know all about weatherstripping, and we have been serving the South Bay Peninsula and Santa Cruz areas since 1962. Visit our website for in-depth information on most HVAC topics, or just give us a call at 408-294-6290.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the South Bay Peninsula and Santa Cruz areas of California about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about weatherstripping and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.Image courtesy of Shutterstock